Braylon Mullins scored all 10 of his points in the second half of his home debut as fifth-ranked UConn never trailed and pulled away for an 83-59 victory over visiting East Texas A&M on Friday night at Storrs, Conn.
The Huskies (8-1) won their fourth straight ahead of Tuesday’s showdown with 15th-ranked Florida at the Jimmy V Classic in New York.
Although UConn never trailed, it struggled to surge ahead in the first half before outscoring the Lions (4-4) 45-32 in the final 20 minutes.
After playing limited minutes in last Friday’s win over Illinois in New York and scoring 17 in Tuesday’s five-point win over Kansas, the freshman was 4-of-10 shooting and played 16 minutes in his first home game after missing over a month with an ankle injury.
Solo Ball led the Huskies with 14 and Eric Reibe added 13 while starting in place of Tarris Reed (ankle). Alex Karaban chipped in 12 as UConn shot 61.3% in the second half and 52.3% overall.
The Huskies countered missing 12 of 16 3-point tries by scoring 58 points in the paint. UConn went a combined 25 of 35 on layups and dunks.
Ronnie Harrison scored 15 to lead the Lions, who were more competitive than last season’s 35-point loss to UConn. Damian Garcia added 12 and Gianni Hunt contributed 11 for East Texas A&M, which shot 38.9% and hit 8 of 24 3-pointers.
UConn scored nine straight and then took a 20-11 lead on a trey by Jayden Ross with 11:24 left. The Huskies scored seven straight and opened a 29-15 lead on Jaylin Stewart’s 3-point play with 6:52 left.
After appearing to seize control, the Huskies let the lead slip to 34-27 on consecutive jumpers by Harrison with 56 seconds left and held a 38-27 edge at halftime after Karaban converted the putback of Stewart’s missed layup at the horn.
Ball’s layup off a turnover put the Huskies up 45-29 with 16:34 left. Consecutive 3s by Hunt moved the Lions within 47-37 around the 14 1/2-minute mark, but Karaban hit a pair of layups in a span of 73 seconds for a 57-38 lead.
Mullins scored eight straight UConn points on a three-point play, a 3-pointer and a layup to extend the lead to 66-42 with 8:17 left.
–Field Level Media
